Beach Clean-up Drive
12th September, 2011
After the Ganesh visarjan day, the NSS volunteers from Usha Pravin Gandhi college of Management took out a beach cleaning drive to Juhu beach. After the visarjan day, the idols usually collect under the sand, and start disintegrating. Our aim was to remove as many idols as we could, and clean up the beach.
On the 12th of September, 2011 the beach cleaning drive started at around 6:30 am, and went on till 10 am or more. Even the NSS teachers were there to guide and encourage the volunteers. We used a stick to recognize any place that could possibly have any idol remains under it. With the help of a stick, and our hands, we dug up any place where we suspected that we would find idol remains. The volunteers were given gloves, to maintain hygiene. However, during the digging, the volunteers got so engrossed in getting the idol out of the sand, that they would end up sitting down or kneeling down and dirtying their clothes. The digging was done till all the parts of the idol were removed from that part of the beach. It even rained for some time, but that did not stop the volunteers from getting the work done.
There were a lot of other groups from different colleges who had gathered to do the same thing. Whenever needed we helped each other out, whether it was for sharing gloves or for digging out a big idol remain. Press was also present to cover the whole drive. After the work was done for the day, our teachers and heads had organized snacks for us. We all cleaned up as much as we could and ate.
Overall, it was an experience worth remembering.